Sorting out my life!

GunShotResidue

We went off track for a few months, but we are now -£4350. If we stick to my carefully planned out... plan, we should be debt free by June next year. We have never been less than a year away before, we keep getting close and then the car breaks down or there is a big event or we just get sloppy with budgeting, and then we're back to 14-16 months to go. So I'm really proud that we only have 10 months left.


Our phone contracts finished a few months back, we were sensible and are keeping our current phones and just paying £15 each for sim only contracts. After the debt is gone we will keep these contracts and buy reconditioned phones, so we have to save for them before getting them rather than paying it off through contract afterwards. Slowly working towards making better financial decisions!


We are going on holiday next month, but we should be able to pay off £350.01 (to get us below four grand!). Fingers crossed it will be a good month

GunShotResidue

We owe less then £4000 (£3949.99!) and still on track for June next year! If I can find an extra £200 between now and then, I can push it to May
Our holiday this month cost more than I expected so its only today (payday) I've managed to get under four grand, but the holiday was so worth it. The kids loved it and we have some really lovely memories.


I have hyperpigmentation on my face and have been lusting after a serum for a while. I found an offer last night for £25 off £50. The serum is £26 on its own and I had already decided to buy it with the 'pocket money' me and my husband allow ourselves each month, so I made the most of the offer and bought two Christmas presents that are essentially free!

GunShotResidue

Pay day today, so we now owe £3600 (or will tomorrow when the loan DD goes out). I am going to try and comment every pay day to keep me on track. According to my spreadsheet we are still on track for June next year. Christmas and New Year always throw us off, but I have a bit saved up already and have bought some gifts. I will pay £400 off the debt at the beginning of the month, and then, taking into account the interest adjustment we haven't yet had on the loan, we will have less than 3 grand left to pay.


I read back my first post earlier and, although we got off track with the debt for a while, I am proud of how far I've come since starting the thread. I said that I wanted to lose about 75lbs, I've lost about 35 since then, although I still want to lose the other 40! I'm going to the gym 2-3 times a week and trying to focus on drinking more water and eating less sugar.


I am meal planning (I've managed to get our food budget down to £150 a month) pretty much on top of the housework and I am getting better at doing things with the kids. We do a kids yoga video each morning, then read a few library books and sing some songs with actions. I want to start doing a sensory play or craft activity every weekday, I'm going to start finding cheap ideas on pinterest and really get into it after Christmas.

SunshineBecks

Just rea through your diary, you are doing so well especially with 2 young children.

Good luck with the rest of your journey- your debt free date is very close!

Becks x

GunShotResidue

SunshineBecks wrote: »

Good luck with the rest of your journey- your debt free date is very close!

Thank you I hope so! We keep getting close then something goes wrong and we end up more than a year away again, so fingers crossed!

GunShotResidue

I'm so rubbish at updating this!


Last month we needed two new tyres, so we couldn't pay off as much as I'd hoped, we owe £3100 now, but are still due an interest adjustment which would take us to just under £3000. At the end of this month we should be able to pay off £500ish. We are planning to pay off the loan in March and the Credit card in June (actually the last day of May), this year! Very excited.


Moneywise, after paying off our debt ASAP, this year I want to start saving for a deposit for a house. I am doing surveys and will be saving the vouchers for Christmas presents. I've done some work for my dad over Christmas (which I'll probably be paid for next month and put it all off the loan) and hopefully he'll have some more work for me this year. I'm also planning ahead for September 2019 when my youngest will start school and I hope to start working part time. I'm planning batch cooking to keep our food bill low and will be looking out for offers on freezer proof pyrex dishes and a giant saucepan.


Other New Year Resolutions: I put on weight over Christmas, so now have about 50lbs to lose again! I am trying to hit 10000 steps every day and have managed it so far, but mostly buy making use of my sister's treadmill in the evenings! Now we're back home I'll have to start going for walks but today I've been doing surveys while walking on the spot as it's so cold outside. I'll be going back to the gym on Wednesday. Our food bill is £150 a month but I'm going to look at raising it to £200 and shopping more sustainably, using local farmers markets and butchers and minimising the amount of plastic and cellophane we buy. My daughter starts full time school this year and I want to start doing more things with her while she's still home for most of the day. I also want to spend more time with my husband when we're not on our phones! And I need to sort out my anxiety as it is getting worse. So lots to think about!

GunShotResidue

Updating again because I'm excited about what I've achieved today but no one in real life would care!


Yesterday I went to a local butcher while I was in town and bought 2 chicken thighs and some mince for £6.27. We had 1/4 of the mince in a Chilli Con Carne last night and I was really impressed with the quality. I used 150g instead of my usual 250g of cheaper stuff and once the fat and water had cooked off it looked about the same! Then I saw an offer from the same butcher for £70 worth of meat for £50, so today I went and picked that up and I've just split it into 30 (fairly small) portions for the freezer. Including the meat I bought yesterday, it averages as £1.61 per meal. It seems like a lot to me, considering I've spent the last year getting the average down to about 70p a meal! But it is such good quality, it is local produce and much lower in fat than what we usually get. And there's much less plastic packaging We have one meat free day a week (pizza this week, bean enchiladas next) so the meat should last us until around the 20th of February. I also picked up some pearl barley from Tesco (a family favourite) and have a load of other beans and pulses to bulk out the meat and make it healthier.


I went back to the gym today and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I've signed up to do a Woman's Self Defence class on Friday (free with my membership) and I'm excited and incredibly scared! I'm very nervous around people and always feel really self conscious, but I'm also too nervous to phone and cancel so I will have to force myself to do it! I did some painting with my daughter this morning and tomorrow she wants to help me make the pizzas. So I've been doing fairly well with my resolutions, other than eating lots of chocolate biscuits!

GunShotResidue

Payday was Wednesday, but I'm rubbish at updating this.

Currently on -£2895, paid an extra £5 to get the loan below £1000. We'll pay off another £95 towards the end of the month. My husband hasn't been paid some extra money he was owed, so we're slightly behind where we should be, hopefully he'll get it next month. I'm owed about £300 for work I've done, but that might not come in for a while. Next month we'll pay off the loan (about a year early ), which should save us some interest, and then focus on the credit card. We will still pay it off in June, but it might be on the last day.


I've saved £30 in amazon vouchers for Christmas, (hoping to save £3-400) and all of January (and yesterday) I did at least 10000 steps. Didn't lose any weight, but the other resolutions are going well This month I'm drinking at least 2l of water each day, and trying to continue with the steps. Trying to start a new healthy habit every month. Baby steps!

GunShotResidue

We didn't save as much interest as I'd hoped (I forgot to take into account a payment holiday we had at the beginning of the loan) but it is now gone, or will be tomorrow when the DD goes out! Still aiming for the end of June to pay off the credit card. It has snuck back up to £1850 while I've been concentrating on the loan, but I'm still owed £300ish, and have some more work lined up for next month.


I've given up sugar for lent, so that's the healthy habit I'm focusing on in March. I've been pretty rubbish at drinking 2l each day for the last few weeks so I'll be back on that too. Lost about 3lbs this week, 42lbs to go!

GunShotResidue

The loan is gone! I transferred the rest of the credit card to a new 0% deal (with only 0.9% fee) as our car was starting to play up and I panicked that if it broke we'd have to take out a new loan to replace it. So now we have 0% until next march, but I am paying just over £200 a month off so it will be gone by the end of the year, and we are saving the rest in a 5% regular saver so that it is there in an emergency. Luckily my husband has fixed the car for now (and got it through it's MOT, it failed on 5 things, but he fixed them all for £56) so hopefully this will be the start of our house deposit savings


Probably wont update again until the credit card is paid off. I did get through lent, and am continuing to not eat sugar Monday-Saturday for various health reasons, and to try and lose the rest of the weight. Back to focusing on drinking enough water and being more active